Four Munster club championships. Two club All-Ireland championships. Four Munster inter-county football championships. Two inter-county All-Ireland championships. And, depending on who you ask, he's perhaps best remembered for a goal against Bayern Munich at the home of Cork rugby in 1991.
Dave Barry's glittering career at Cork City, which saw him win a League of Ireland and two League Cups as a player as well as an FAI Cup and league cup as manager, produced as many personal highlights as his outstanding Gaelic football tenure with his native county. But for a born-footballer who never earned an official senior cap for his country, none compare to one otherwise non-descript 'glamour friendly' at the old Landsdowne Road.
Last week, RTÉ's Tony O'Donoghue regaled us with the comical tale behind his personal career highlight, which actually arrived while commentating on Barry's goal vs Bayern at Musgrave Park. Speaking to Balls.ie, Barry told of how Jack Charlton's ignorance towards the League of Ireland provided him with the stand-out moment of his own extraordinary sporting career:
You know, when you play soccer in this country, you're always knocked. You're never any good. Anybody who's over playing second or third division in England is at a higher level than you are.
I remember when I was called up to an Irish squad with Jack Charlton. Now, it was a 'B' squad, don't get me wrong. There were a lot of lads pulled out. So we played Man United at Landsdowne Road, there was 40,000 at it. And Jack Charlton looked at me at half-time - there was only two subs at half-time. Pat Fenlon was one, I was the other. Pat was asked would he go in as a winger because one of the lads got injured.
Pat says, 'No, I play in the middle in the park'. So I got up, I'm taking off my tracksuit, and Jack Charlton is standing there with his his hat on. And he looks at me. And Mick Byrne turned (I knew Mick from travelling with the League of Ireland teams), and Mick said, 'We go with Dave Barry so, Jack?' Mick probably had a bit of faith in me; he says, 'Throw him in, he'll be okay'.
And Jack looked at me and he says, 'You don't look like a winger, Son'.
I was losing my hair then, I was about 30 at the time! But I went in, and who was playing wide right and wide on the left for Man United was [Andrei] Kanchelskis and [Ryan] Giggs. So I was on Giggs. So what do you do? You just show him the inside, you don't let him come outside you and run down the wing. So I showed him outside and did okay.
And Jack [Charlton] came up to me after the game, and he says, 'I should look at more League of Ireland games!' Which, you know, I felt was a bit of a pat on the back for me.
Barry went on the explain why kids should never be told they can't play for Ireland unless they're playing their club football in England - as he was once warned by former Ireland u21s boss Maurice Setters. You can listen to that in the above clip.
A reminder to tune into The Balls.ie Football Show, available from Wednesdays on iTunes and your various podcast providers. Simply search 'The Football Show from Balls.ie' and you'll be in business.
